Jamali Maddix: Aston review – bursts of brilliance and a wicked sense of humour

Monkey Barrel, EdinburghIn an uneven show, one of the most intriguing comic voices of his generation tackles sex, race and British identity‘I used to be a cool young comic with cool young fans,” bewails Jamali Maddix. He’s certainly one of the most intriguing, though not perfectly formed, comic voic

Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh
In an uneven show, one of the most intriguing comic voices of his generation tackles sex, race and British identity

‘I used to be a cool young comic with cool young fans,” bewails Jamali Maddix. He’s certainly one of the most intriguing, though not perfectly formed, comic voices of his generation, with little by way of filter and never one to be swayed by on-message orthodoxy. He may now be moving into middle age, at 34, with touring show Aston, but this isn’t a step forward – just another characteristic compound of fearless and sometimes lazy thinking, pitted with brilliant moments casually moved on from and underdeveloped.

One thing the Ilford man has never been backwards about is his own delinquency, and Aston opens with a life update from a man who self-identifies as “toxic but cheeky”. He’s no longer cheating on his girlfriends. He held out for only three days before surrendering his ID to access porn online. He’s also now using Ozempic to control his weight (cue a fun gag about submitting naked pics of himself to a pervy doctor) and addicted to the TikTok output of former light-entertainment icon Michael Barrymore.